Olympus C-7070 Wide Zoom

C-7070 Test Images

Review First Posted: 03/01/2005, Updated: 04/27/2005

Digital Cameras - Olympus C-7070 Wide Zoom Test Images

I've begun including links in our reviews to a Thumbnail index page for the test shots. The data on this page includes a host of information on the images, including shutter speed, ISO setting, compression setting, etc. Rather than clutter the page below with all that detail, we're posting the thumbnail index so only those interested in the information need wade through it!

White Balance:Incandescent very good, just a hint of warmth, mirroring the original lighting. Auto rather reddish. Manual slightly greenish, but some people might prefer it.

Color: Good skin tones, though blue flowers are purple, remaining color very good though. (A very good performance, given the tough light source.)

To view the entire exposure series from zero to +1.7 EV, see files 7070INMP0.HTM through 7070INMP5.HTM on the thumbnail index page.

ISO Series:Noise is generally quite unobtrusive with the C-7070. There's some detectable noise in the blue channel even at low ISO settings, but the noise pattern is unusually fine-grained, which makes it much less visible in prints than it would be otherwise. Noise at ISO 400 is on the high side, and some fine detail is traded away to hold it in check, but the noise pattern is fine enough that even prints at 8x10 inches should be acceptable for most uses. At 5x7 inches, noise is a non-issue for all but the most critical applications.

High resolution and strong detail, though a slightly limited dynamic range.

This image is shot at infinity to test far-field lens performance, and to present a near-infinite range of detail to the camera. NOTE that this image cannot be directly compared to the other "house" shot, which is a poster, shot in the studio.

Sharpness/Detail: Very good, a lot of fine detail and strong definition even in the finer elements. Very slight softness, but no artifacts due to in-camera sharpening. (Low sharpness setting takes unsharp masking in Photoshop(tm) exceptionally well, reveals loads of fine detail.)

Sharpness in Corners: Very good, much better than average.

Color: Just about right, very slightly reddish. Accurate hue and saturation.

Dynamic Range: Pretty good, though some detail loss in the bright highlights.

Sharpness Series: The C-7070's default sharpening setting produces pretty good results, with very few artifacts from the sharpening process. Still, you can do better in Photoshop, working from images shot with the lowest sharpness setting. (Try unsharp masking of 0.4 pixel radius, 30% on the "-5" image here.)

Saturation Series: Looking at these images, I'd say that the best way to handle very high contrast like this might be to set contrast to -5, saturation to +3 or so. - Nice to have such fine-grained and wide-ranging controls for tone and color...

The C-7070's focal length range of 27-110mm equivalents is a bit broader than that of many digital cameras. Of particular note is how wide it goes at the wide-angle end. (Most digital cameras stop at about 35 mm equivalent, the 27 mm offered by the C-7070 is quite a bit wider.) Overall, the C-7070's zoom range corresponds to a fairly wide angle to a modest telephoto.

Good macro performance in normal mode, exceptional in Super mode. Excellent detail and good color. Flash performs pretty well in normal mode.

Minimum Macro Area: 2.95 x 2.21 inches (74.9 x 56.2 millimeters) in normal macro mode (good to average), 1.12 x 0.84 inches (28.5 x 21.4 millimeters) in Super Macro. (NOTE that the C-7070 produces the tightest closeups in normal macro mode with the lens set to its telephoto position, not the wide angle position as described in the manual.)

Softness in corners?: A moderate amount in normal mode, but far less in Super Macro mode. (Most cameras get fairly soft corners in their macro modes.)

Flash performance in macro mode?: Flash is available in normal Macro mode only, but does quite well there, throttling down well, with only a little falloff in the corners.

White balance: Auto and Manual settings both produced excellent results, chose Auto for the main shot. Daylight setting a little yellow.

Color Accuracy: Very good color accuracy, yellows a little dark and strong reds and blues a little hot. Cyan is shifted a little toward pure blues, a common trick to get better-looking sky colors. (Interestingly, the overall color "fingerprint" of the C-7070 is very similar to a lot of Canon cameras currently on the market.) Overall, very good/pleasing color.

Shadow detail and noise: Good detail in the briquettes, moderately low noise.

The images series below duplicate examples of various camera controls we've already covered above. I include them here though, for our more analytically-minded readers, who'd like to see the effect of various camera controls with a well-known target like the MacBeth Color Checker (tm).

Very good low-light performance, with pretty good color and fairly low noise. Focuses to about 0.7 foot-candle without AF illuminator, in total darkness (on nearby objects) with it.

Exposure limit: 1/16 foot-candle at all ISOs, though the target is slightly dim at this light level in the ISO 80 and 100 shots. (About 1/16 as bright as typical city street lighting at night.)

Autofocus Limit: About 0.7 foot-candle with the AF illuminator disabled, in total darkness, out to a range of about 8 feet with it turned on.

White Balance: Slightly pink, but better than average.

Noise Levels: Fairly low in most shots, though a bit higher at ISO 400. Noise Reduction mode doesn't seem to make a lot of difference here, because there aren't a lot of "hot pixels" anyway.

Detail loss to anti-noise processing?: Minimal at one foot-candle, noticeable at 1/16 foot-candle.

General Notes: The C-7070 is a very capable low-light shooter, but I wouldn't mind seeing it have better low light focusing ability when its AF illuminator is turned off. Still though, this is a camera that should bring back good-looking pictures from conditions about as dim as you'd probably want to walk around in.

(Note: If you'd like to use a light meter to check light levels for subjects you might be interested in shooting, a light level of one foot-candle corresponds to a normal exposure of two seconds at f/2.8 and ISO 100.)

1 fc
11 lux

1/2 fc
5.5 lux

1/4 fc
2.7 lux

1/8 fc
1.3 lux

1/16 fc
0.67 lux

1/16fc
No NR

ISO
80

1.6 sec
f2.8

4 sec
f2.8

8 sec
f2.8

15 sec
f2.8

15 sec
f2.8

15 sec
f2.8

ISO
100

1.3 sec
f2.8

3.2 sec
f2.8

6 sec
f2.8

15 sec
f2.8

15 sec
f2.8

15 sec
f2.8

ISO
200

1/1 sec
f2.8

1.6 sec
f2.8

4 sec
f2.8

8 sec
f2.8

15 sec
f2.8

15 sec
f2.8

ISO
400

1/2 sec
f2.8

1/1 sec
f2.8

2 sec
f2.8

4 sec
f2.8

8 sec
f2.8

8 sec
f2.8

Flash Range Test

Slightly underexposed at eight feet, but about the same brightness level to 10 feet. Intensity decreases slightly from that point on.

Good resolution, 1,550 lines of "strong detail." Higher than average barrel distortion at wide angle, but almost no distortion at telephoto. Moderate chromatic aberration at wide angle, almost none at telephoto. Good sharpness in corners, best at wide angle.